'Soft launch' for a new gardening venture
...and some things I've learned about beating The Fear
You know when you're getting ready to do something - make a change or launch a thing - and you're looking for a sign to just go for it?
That's the position I found myself in today - for a while I've wanted to move forward with my little plant nursery, The Secret Garden, and extend to offering gardening services and planting advice. I woke up this morning thinking ‘today’s the day’.
But. I've got a cold, I have far too many deadlines hanging over my head at the moment… and then I opened the curtains and it was SNOWING outside. Not exactly perfect conditions to lure me into the garden, never mind to make it my new outdoor place of work. I was seriously doubting my decisions...
I turned on the radio and it's playing 'Should I stay or should I go?' followed by 'You can get it if you really want' ... so no great advice there!
Then I noticed I was drinking tea from a mug I randomly chose (one of my favourites) with this quote on it:
😂😂😂
I don't know if the world was trying to tell me something or not... but the fact is there's NEVER going to be a perfect time to do it. And if anything, I realised that to launch something like this at the worst time would be kind of rebelliously satisfying - two fingers up to the universe for trying to put me off.
So… you launched your gardening business when you were ill, far too busy, and it was the middle of winter? YES because that’s the kind of cool gardening rebel I am… 👩🏻🎤
I still had the fear though, so I decided baby steps would be the way forward. Going against all marketing instincts, I posted about this first on LinkedIn - not somewhere I’d expect to find customers, or for my news to even be immediately visible - but there was something low-stakes and comforting about that. Plus I decided it was sort of ‘business news’ and I knew the community of LinkedIn would appreciate finding out about this new development on my career journey. And you never know - some local contacts could be potential clients!
Then I decided to take the next baby step - speaking to the local farm shop about setting out business cards and whether they might consider selling some of my plants. ✅ Done. Easier and quicker than I expected. Also low-stakes and moves things forward a little bit on two fronts.
This ‘baby steps’ strategy has also involved some inaction ie NOT removing the post on my Facebook page that I had scheduled to go out later in the day, announcing this new part of my business. I had written it and scheduled it a day previously, with the mindset that - if I wanted - I could pause or delete the posting. I didn’t - and now it’s live.
And that’s enough for today - in the next day or two I’ll begin sharing a bit further afield, whenever and wherever I feel comfortable!
So it looks like I’m doing this. Here goes...
I'm offering garden maintenance, planting advice and garden consultations starting in April! If you’re reading this and you happen to be local to Dundee and the surrounding area, and you want a bit of help growing a gorgeous garden for your home or business premises - or if you're looking for a freelance gardener, then get in touch 💚
More details about the services I can offer are here on my website.
Top Tips to beat The Fear when you’re launching something new
Start small! Make a tiny little plan of action and don’t get overwhelmed by all the things you know you will have to do - you don’t have to do them all straight away.
Baby steps: put your ad/business card somewhere less ‘in your face’ to begin with. When you don’t get much reaction and/or when you get positive reaction and encouragement - that will spur you on to post it somewhere more visible. Before you know it you’ll be waving cards around in public and sharing with every FB group you’re in!
Consider it a ‘soft launch’. It’s much easier to get your head around each little bit at a time - to get comfy with the idea as more and more people hear about it and react to it - rather than facing a deluge (or tumbleweed?!) when you put everything out there at once. You can also monitor reaction as you go and adjust your approach if need be.
Use scheduled posts. Something about the delayed timing makes it less scary when you’re sharing something big or important. There’s wiggle room, you can change your mind if you really want to, and take it down before it goes live. Sometimes you subconsciously realise you’ve made an error and you can go back and fix it before it’s public and you feel foolish.
Alternatively, if you’re hitting post straight away, hit send, then shut the laptop or put down your phone and go for a walk - distance yourself, get some headspace and then begin to deal with any reaction when you get back. This is also an excellent strategy for all-staff emails - aka the ultimate mind-melter of communications.
Surround yourself with cheerleaders and a helpful community from the beginning - I’m in a number of online business and horticultural groups and sought encouragement in one of these before ‘going live’; I knew this would help me feel more secure and give me the final push I needed to go for it.
However - if you prefer, don’t tell anyone! Especially family or friends whose opinion or judgement might derail you or influence your decision. Ironically I felt more comfortable sharing with online strangers first, but that’s just me, I’m a people-pleaser and easily influenced so often I need to know my own mind before I share stuff with people close to me.
Do collect all your thoughts and ideas as you go - it’s a time when you can be really creatively stimulated and find yourself leaping ahead thinking about all the possibilities of your new working life. Some of these might pan out, some might not, but you can avoid overwhelm by filing most of them away into ‘future development’ - then you know they’re captured and can be pulled out and moved forward or discarded when the time is right.
Just a few ideas about an approach that’s worked for me this very day. It’s not a business strategy, I’m not a marketing expert and it’s just one way of doing things. But if you’re anything like me and need to push yourself out of that comfort zone to something new and exciting but a bit scary then I hope these tips will help 🙂
I'm so thrilled for you, Julianne - congratulations!
And thank you so, so much for your tips on tackling 'The Fear' - very much appreciated!
🌱
Julianne, I actually want to speak to you about a project if you are conducive to a Glasgow one...?